TV for Grownups

A first-class, cerebral mystery/espionage thriller set amidst the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, British auteur Hugo Blick’s “The Honorable Woman” has become one of the most talked-about television dramas of the summer. Its title star, Maggie Gyllenhaal, has said she is more proud of the eight-part mini series than anything else she’s done in her career. Its supporting cast, including Stephen Rea and Janet McTeer as British agents, is absolutely brilliant. And of course, it could not be more timely. Blick noted that …

During the promotional ramp-up to the July 9 premiere of Halle Berry’s new CBS show Extant, Berry talked comparisons to Rosemary’s Baby and series creator Mickey Fisher referenced a “Joseph and Mary moment,” in which shocked husband Goran Visnjic learns that his astronaut wife (Berry) got pregnant while on a 13-month solo mission in space. So just what has she got gestating? Is it the devil or something divine? More important to CBS, will she deliver a hit, or a big-budget miss? …

Tom Bergeron loves hosting live TV shows. No surprise, then, to hear him rhapsodize about his upcoming emcee duties for A Capitol Fourth on PBS; it’s a super-sized version of his thrill of choice. “To walk out on that stage on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol, in front of hundreds of thousands of people on the National Mall – and knowing you’re being beamed to millions more around the world – is one of the highlights of my …

Watching Whoopi Goldberg in Lifetime’s A Day Late and a Dollar Short, to air Saturday April 19, you may find yourself thinking that we haven’t been seeing enough of The View host’s Oscar-winning acting skills in recent years. She reminds us in this movie of just how good she is. The film puts her at the center of another scenario by novelist Terry McMillan (Goldberg was in How Stella Got Her Groove Back, you may recall) and reunites her with Ving …

It’s a season to remember for actress Margo Martindale. She and Chris Cooper are getting singled out for their performances in the newly-opened big-screen drama August: Osage County — which is no small feat considering they’re in a cast that includes Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Sam Shepard and Juliette Lewis. At the same time, her CBS sitcom, The Millers, is earning critical second looks. Indeed, The Millers has improved with seasoning. That’s a good thing, because the Greg Garcia comedy …

Question: What has Michael Buble, Celine Dion, Miley Cyrus, Hugh Jackman, Cookie Monster, Charles Barkley, President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama? Answer: This week’s lineup of holiday music specials! If you enjoy seeing top names warbling about Santa, snow and sleigh rides, this is your week. For the last couple of years, Buble has been hitting our sweet spot with network Christmas variety fare as traditional as his silky-voiced crooning. This year, his 10 p.m. NBC show Wednesday …